Flat Hats

One of the most basic and common types of hat in late period is the flat cap.

Documentat ion from a knit flat cap, including instructio ns.

Patterns for flat caps and three-pane l coifs.

This cap was discovered in an old house in Worship Street, East London. It is knitted with thick, reddish brown wool in stocking stitch. It has been felted, cut and resewn to make two overlappin g brims, and blocked into its finished form. A large number of similar caps have been found in excavation s of late medieval and renaissanc e artifacts.

The flat cap seems to have been a widespread fashion choice for gentlemen in Europe during the 16th century. There are numerous surviving portraits that document the ways in which it was worn and decorated. The cap appears to have been popular with men old and young throughout the century, and even coming into use by women, but it was worn and decorated differently over the years, eventually disapearing by the end of Elizabeth's reign. Includes portraits of men and women wearing this style of cap, with commentary on the modes of decoration.

From the Proceeding s of the Society of Antiquarie s of Scotland. Includes informatio n about the Orkney hood, the Rogart shirt, and several knit caps, as well as several preserved fragments.

Descriptio ns of 17th century textiles found in archaeolog ical excavation s in Scotland, including men's knitted caps and bonnets.

Make your knitted cap like new again by washing, blocking, nap raising, shearing and pressing it.

Survey of knitwear. Includes examples of knit clothing, caps, hats, jackets, stockings, and other accoutrements and accessories from the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

Mostly about knitting caps in 16th/17th century styles.

On October 14th, 1583, the merchant ship "Gagia na," while carrying a load of goods from Venice to the East, hit a reef and sank off the Adriatic coast, near the island of Gnalic and what is now known as Croatia. This webpage describes the knitted hats found in an ironclad wooden chest on the wreck, and provides instructio ns for creating a cap (or "baret t") based on the artifacts.

The Knitting in Early Modern Europe is an ongoing research project which began as an EU-funded Marie Sklodowska Curie Fellowship at the Centre for Textile Research at the University of Copenhagen . The main focus of the project was knitted caps from the 15th to the 17th centuries. It has now expanded to look at other knitted garments as part of The Tudor Tailor's publicatio n plans, including knitting instructio ns for garments typical of lower class people in the early modern era.

A short history of knitting, from its beginning to the Renaissanc e. Includes a section on naalbindin g.

Instructio ns for making a Tudor-styl e flat cap.

A simple sewing pattern for a Tudor flat cap.

There is some variety in flat caps. The brim can be padded and wired or not, depending upon the strength of the fabric. There are two ways of making the crown. These parts can all be interchang ed. You'll need to decide how much time and energy you want to spend on it. As you might expect, the more time-consu ming hat looks more finished and lasts longer, but they both look quite good, especially for the short term.

Most women of the early sixteenth century Tudor court wore the gable headdress in its many forms, and later wore the French Hood. However there are several images of women in other forms of head wear. These drawings show hats similar to those worn by men of the period, except they are worn over a fitted and wired or stiffened linen undercap. In addition to the feathered hat made famous by portraits of Henry VIII, men also wore several variations of hat, or 'bonnet' as they were called by those who wore them. I've included a sampling of these from drawings by Hans Holbein.